HCC - Hepatocellular CarcinomaNCT07839767
Treatment Selection by 3D Bioprinting Liver Model to Prevent Liver Cancer Recurrence
An observational study of HCC - Hepatocellular Carcinoma, run by The University of Hong Kong at 1 site in Hong Kong.
Trial summary
This study is a feasibility study about a test on adjuvant therapy for patients in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) with a higher risk of tumour recurrence after liver resection or ablation. Read more about this study
- Who is it for?
- Ages 18 years and older
- Conditions the study is for
- HCC - Hepatocellular Carcinoma
- What is being tested?
- Liver-in-cube testing
- How many people
- 20 participants
- Where
- 1 siteHong Kong
- Study dates
- 13 Apr 2026to 31 Dec 2031
- How long will I take part?
- 3 Years
- Phase
- Observational
- Are there results?
- Not yet: the study is under way
Key requirements
Who can take part, as listed by the sponsor. Only the study team can confirm whether you are eligible, so take this list to your doctor.
- Ages 18 years and older
- All sexes
- No healthy volunteers
- Adult, Older adult
Study population: HCC patients who are going to receive liver resection or ablation with a higher risk of tumour recurrence
Who may be able to join
- Age ≥ 18 years at the time of screening
- Diagnosis of HCC
- Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group (ECOG) performance status (PS) score of 0 or 1
- With or without prior locoregional therapy such as transarterial chemoembolisation (TACE), radiofrequency ablation (RFA), and stereotactic body radiation therapy (SBRT) before surgery - Meet any item indicating higher risk of tumour recurrence: any tumour size ≥ 5cm, number of tumour ≥ 3, presence of microvascular or marcovascular invasion, or poor tumour differentiation
- No prior systemic therapy for HCC
- No other active malignancies within 5 years, except malignancies with a negligible risk of metastasis or death (eg. 5-year overall survival rate > 90%), such as adequately treated carcinoma in situ of the cervix, non-melanoma skin carcinoma, localised prostate cancer, ductal carcinoma in situ, or stage I uterine cancer
- Willing and able to provide written informed consent for the collection and usage of biological samples
Who cannot join
- Non-HCC diagnosis, including fibrolamellar HCC, sarcomatoid HCC, mixed HCC cholangiocarcinoma etc.
- Fail to give consent or refusal to take part in the study
- Child-Pugh class C liver cirrhosis
- Receipt of any prior systemic therapy for HCC
Trial locations and contacts
1 site in 1 country. Contact the study team or a site near you to ask about taking part.
Hong Kong1 site, 1 recruiting
- Recruiting
Queen Mary Hospital
Hong Kong
Albert Chan, +852 2255 6646, hbptrial@hku.hk
About this study
Official title: Implementation of Biomimetic 3D Bioprinting Technology in Selecting Optimal Regimens as Adjuvant Therapy to Prevent Hepatocellular Carcinoma Recurrence After Liver Resection or Ablation: a Feasibility Study
This study is a feasibility study about a test on adjuvant therapy for patients in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) with a higher risk of tumour recurrence after liver resection or ablation. By collecting individual patient's liver and tumour tissue during surgical operation, 3D bioprinting technology will be adopted to construct patient-specific biomimetic liver models -'Liver-in-Cube', to test and identify the most effective adjuvant therapy for individual patients, thereby personalising treatment and improving treatment outcomes, and hence reducing the recurrence rate of HCC.
This is a phase II, non-randomised, open-label, single-centre, prospective feasibility study designed to evaluate the use of biomimetic 3D bioprinting technology in guiding the selection of adjuvant treatment regimens to prevent hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) recurrence after curative liver resection. The study will be conducted at Queen Mary Hospital as a 5 years project.
A total of 20 HCC patients who are going to receive liver resection or ablation with a higher risk of tumour recurrence will be recruited. Patients will be identified from clinic and asked if willing to participate in the study. Consent will be signed before operation. Biological samples such as tissue and blood samples will be collected during operation for Liver-in-Cube construction. Patients will receive standard post operative care upon discharge, follow-up in clinic regularly as usual, and be referred to collaborated oncologists for adjuvant therapy. A 1-month post operative scan will also be arranged as standard procedure to confirm the post operative disease status. Result from Liver-in-Cube will be treated as an additional information about adjuvant therapy in preventing HCC recurrence. Patients will discuss with oncologists and decide if to adopt adjuvant therapy or not for HCC recurrence prevention. During the follow-up period, blood samples will also be collected for laboratory analysis outside the routine blood assessment.
- Conditions
- HCC - Hepatocellular Carcinoma
- Being tested
- Liver-in-cube testing
- Keywords
- Liver cube, liver-in-cube, liver model, bioprinting, drugs selection, recurrence, HCC, hepatocellular carcinoma, adjuvant therapy
- Medical subject headings
- Carcinoma, Hepatocellular, Recurrence
What participants receive
What participants receive. In a randomised study each person is assigned to one group by chance.
Liver-in-cube testingOther
Liver-in-cube technology will be used to test and identify the most effective adjuvant therapy for individual patients
What is being measured
The primary outcome is the main question the study is designed to answer.
Number of patients have expected result
Efficacy of Liver-in-Cube in guiding the selection of optimal adjuvant treatment. Eg. Liver-in-Cube suggests drug A for patient A, and patient A receives drug A for treatment, then see if drug A delivers a better response for patient A Time Frame: within 3 years after surgery
Measured: within 3 years after surgery
Number of patient who has tumour recurrence
Recurrence rate
Measured: within 3 years after surgery
Secondary outcomes (1)
length of time that patients alive
overall survival
Measured: within 3 years after surgery
Timeline
From the start of the study to its completion; the mark is today. Estimated dates are the sponsor’s plan.
- First posted24 Sep 2026
- Study start13 Apr 2026
- Primary completion31 Dec 2030 (estimated)
- Study completion31 Dec 2031 (estimated)
Resources
- Official record on ClinicalTrials.govThe registry entry this page is built from, with its full change history.
- Other trials for HCC - Hepatocellular CarcinomaStudies of the same condition, open and under way.
- More trials run by The University of Hong KongThe sponsor's other registered studies.
- What the trial phases meanHow a treatment moves from first tests in people to approval.
More details
For doctors and researchers: how the study is designed, who runs it, and its registry IDs.
Study design
- Study type
- Observational
- Observational model
- Cohort
- Time perspective
- Prospective
- Enrolment
- 20 participants (estimated)
- Target duration
- 3 Years
Sponsor and investigators
- Lead sponsor
- The University of Hong Kong
- Sponsor type
- University, hospital or other
- Responsible party
- Principal investigator, Albert Chi Yan Chan, The University of Hong Kong
IDs, dates and publications
- ClinicalTrials.gov ID
- NCT07839767
- Sponsor's protocol ID
- UW25-514
- Status last verified
- Sep 2026
- First submitted
- 12 Dec 2025
- Last updated
- 24 Sep 2026
- Results posted
- No
- Data monitoring committee
- No
- FDA-regulated drug
- No
- FDA-regulated device
- No
- Individual data sharing
- No
Study at a glance
From the registry record, last updated by the sponsor on 24 Sep 2026. Recruitment status is as the sponsor reported it: confirm with the study team.
- Official title
- Implementation of Biomimetic 3D Bioprinting Technology in Selecting Optimal Regimens as Adjuvant Therapy to Prevent Hepatocellular Carcinoma Recurrence After Liver Resection or Ablation: a Feasibility Study
- ClinicalTrials.gov ID
- NCT07839767
- Acronym / sponsor ID
- UW25-514
- Conditions
- HCC - Hepatocellular Carcinoma
- Keywords
- Liver cube, liver-in-cube, liver model, bioprinting, drugs selection, recurrence, HCC, hepatocellular carcinoma
- Study type
- Observational
- Recruitment status
- Recruiting
- Enrolment
- 20 participants (estimated)
- Lead sponsor
- The University of Hong KongUniversity, hospital or other
- Study start
- 13 Apr 2026 (actual)
- Primary completion
- 31 Dec 2030 (estimated)
- Study completion
- 31 Dec 2031 (estimated)
- First posted
- 24 Sep 2026 (actual)
- Results
- Not posted in the source record
Clinical summary
The research question as the sponsor registered it. This describes what the study plans to test, not what it found.
This study is a feasibility study about a test on adjuvant therapy for patients in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) with a higher risk of tumour recurrence after liver resection or ablation. By collecting individual patient's liver and tumour tissue during surgical operation, 3D bioprinting technology will be adopted to construct patient-specific biomimetic liver models -'Liver-in-Cube', to test and identify the most effective adjuvant therapy for individual patients, thereby personalising treatment and improving treatment outcomes, and hence reducing the recurrence rate of HCC.
This is a phase II, non-randomised, open-label, single-centre, prospective feasibility study designed to evaluate the use of biomimetic 3D bioprinting technology in guiding the selection of adjuvant treatment regimens to prevent hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) recurrence after curative liver resection. The study will be conducted at Queen Mary Hospital as a 5 years project.
A total of 20 HCC patients who are going to receive liver resection or ablation with a higher risk of tumour recurrence will be recruited. Patients will be identified from clinic and asked if willing to participate in the study. Consent will be signed before operation. Biological samples such as tissue and blood samples will be collected during operation for Liver-in-Cube construction. Patients will receive standard post operative care upon discharge, follow-up in clinic regularly as usual, and be referred to collaborated oncologists for adjuvant therapy. A 1-month post operative scan will also be arranged as standard procedure to confirm the post operative disease status. Result from Liver-in-Cube will be treated as an additional information about adjuvant therapy in preventing HCC recurrence. Patients will discuss with oncologists and decide if to adopt adjuvant therapy or not for HCC recurrence prevention. During the follow-up period, blood samples will also be collected for laboratory analysis outside the routine blood assessment.
Study design
- Observational model
- Cohort
- Time perspective
- Prospective
- Target follow-up
- 3 Years
Who may qualify
- Ages
- 18 years and older
- Sex
- All
- Healthy volunteers
- Not accepted
- Age groups
- Adult, Older adult
- Study population
- HCC patients who are going to receive liver resection or ablation with a higher risk of tumour recurrence
Key inclusion criteria (7 listed)
- Age ≥ 18 years at the time of screening
- Diagnosis of HCC
- Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group (ECOG) performance status (PS) score of 0 or 1
- With or without prior locoregional therapy such as transarterial chemoembolisation (TACE), radiofrequency ablation (RFA), and stereotactic body radiation therapy (SBRT) before surgery - Meet any item indicating higher risk of tumour recurrence: any tumour size ≥ 5cm, number of tumour ≥ 3, presence of microvascular or marcovascular invasion, or poor tumour differentiation
- No prior systemic therapy for HCC
Key exclusion criteria (4 listed)
- Non-HCC diagnosis, including fibrolamellar HCC, sarcomatoid HCC, mixed HCC cholangiocarcinoma etc.
- Fail to give consent or refusal to take part in the study
- Child-Pugh class C liver cirrhosis
- Receipt of any prior systemic therapy for HCC
Eligibility is decided by the study team after screening; this overview does not establish that a patient qualifies. Full inclusion and exclusion criteria.
Interventions
| Intervention | Type | Arms |
|---|---|---|
| Liver-in-cube testingLiver-in-cube technology will be used to test and identify the most effective adjuvant therapy for individual patients | Other | – |
Primary outcome
Number of patients have expected result
Time frame: within 3 years after surgery
Efficacy of Liver-in-Cube in guiding the selection of optimal adjuvant treatment. Eg. Liver-in-Cube suggests drug A for patient A, and patient A receives drug A for treatment, then see if drug A delivers a better response for patient A Time Frame: within 3 years after surgery
Number of patient who has tumour recurrence
Time frame: within 3 years after surgery
Recurrence rate
1 secondary outcome
length of time that patients alive
Time frame: within 3 years after surgery
Results and safety
This study is still under way. Results are not available in the source record yet.
Research links
- Official record on ClinicalTrials.govLast updated by the sponsor 24 Sep 2026.
- Individual participant dataSharing planned: No
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Referral and contact
AzTrials does not enrol participants or take referrals. Contact the study team or a site listed below; they decide who can take part.
1 site in 1 country: see every site and its status.
Questions about this trial
What is this clinical trial studying?
An observational study of HCC - Hepatocellular Carcinoma, run by The University of Hong Kong at 1 site in Hong Kong.
The full registered description is in the About this study section and the official record.
Who may be eligible to take part?
The sponsor lists 7 inclusion and 4 exclusion criteria. Eligibility is decided by the study team after screening, so read the full criteria and contact a listed site.
Is this clinical trial currently recruiting?
The record says: looking for participants now, as of the sponsor's last update on 24 Sep 2026. Status can change between updates, so confirm with the study contact before making plans.
Where is the study taking place?
The record lists 1 site in Hong Kong. Whether a site is taking part right now should be confirmed with that site. See every site.
What are the possible benefits and risks?
They depend on the study and the treatment, and no study can promise a benefit. The study team explains the known risks during informed consent, before anyone joins; the record itself does not list them.
Are results available for this study?
This study is still under way. Results are not available in the source record yet.
How can a doctor refer a patient or contact the research team?
Contact Albert Chan (+852 2255 6646, hbptrial@hku.hk), or a site near the patient. AzTrials does not enrol participants or take referrals.
What does the primary outcome measure?
Number of patients have expected result (time frame: within 3 years after surgery). The study lists 2 primary outcomes in all. It is what the study was designed to measure, not a finding.
Where can I read the original study information?
Does a listing mean the treatment is approved or proven to work?
No. A listing means the study is registered. It does not show that the treatment is safe, works, or is approved by a regulator.
How often is this information updated?
AzTrials copies changed records from ClinicalTrials.gov every night and reloads the whole registry every week. The sponsor last updated this record on 24 Sep 2026.